2020 Spartan Greek Peak Sprint
Race: Greek Peak Spartan Sprint
Date: March 7, 2020
AG Place:5 / 98
Males: 15 / 508
Overall: 15 / 648
Pre-Race Conditions:
Nervous. Excited. Ready.
First race of the season is back to Greek Peak. Last 2 years have went well but not good. Penalties have cost me. 2018 missed Olympus at mile 1.5 and 2019 missed the spear after 2. Both were decent finishes so I’m hoping for a clean race and staying out of my head. I’m finally through the case of a calf that’s bugged me for the last 6 weeks. Pretty sure I’m healthier and faster than last year.
The course has changed slightly from last year. The first climb is slightly longer up the single track. I’m hoping to use that to my advantage and let the rabbits go out and then get them on the downhill and the back of the course. Slightly nervous because I haven’t done a carry since that annoying penalty at swingers during WTM. I did have some good spear throws today before we left. My target basically fell apart with my last throw. That’s going to need some work next week to get ready for NJ Ultra at the end of April.
We just left Niagara Falls on a quick detour before the hotel. It’s been forever since I was there and it was kind of cool to see it in the winter even though some of the viewing areas were closed.
Weather conditions are supposed to be 24F and clear with 8” of fresh snow today. I don’t think it could be better for this. Nothing more to do besides enjoy the rest of the ride and go get it tomorrow morning.
Race Recap:
Well that was a shit show of a start. The announcer called out a 5 minute warning for the 9:30 Age Group heat. I was finishing tucking everything in my bag and then heard the start line announcer finishing the start line speech. I did a quick 50 meter sprint to the corral, asked if that was my heat and before I had an answer was over the wall and at the back of the pack. I started my watch at 9:25 so no denying that they went really early. Lesson learned pay more attention to the start guy and not the announcer.
Since this was only a 5k it was going to be hard to make up time. My race plan of being on the conservative side on the first climb went to damage control mode. I had to start fighting for positions against all 250 athletes in my heat instead of starting close to where I wanted to be and making up the rest on the back of the course.
This year they changed the start and finish. We started with a hard climb right up the mountain through some of the single track that just made everything more difficult for me. As we were nearing the top I could see the lead pack what must have been a quarter mile ahead. I started thinking maybe I would just pull back and take it easier because of what happened. I only had that thought for a few seconds before I focused back to the task at hand. Up and down we’re pretty uneventful. At the bottom the first thing we hit was the z wall. It was slippery and in my haste I nearly fell on the inside corner. I managed to hang in and recover and knew I needed to focus on what I was doing.
After that we went right to the monkey bars. I took a slower and safer approach to settle my HR and catch my breath. I had 2.5 more miles and couldn’t blow up this early. A mistake would be too costly. Through the monkey bars, the river crossing, the invert wall and then to a few hard obstacles. The rig was the sprint version of all rings. Again a smooth safe technique that gave me a sprint over to the atlas carry and barbed wire crawl. At that point I was all in and took a speedier crawl / roll technique and didn’t make up any time but maintained a good position.
A short run from there was back to back carries. I haven’t carried in a while so I was nervous how much it was going to hurt. Luckily the bucket terrain was sloppy mud and slowed everyone to a hike. I got passed by one guy but he paid for it when I set my bucket down and took back off easily past him. Next was over to a light sandbag carry. Same kind of sloppy footing slowed everyone down to a hike until the last small section where we could jog.
Dropped my bag in the bin in one move and headed to the last gauntlet of obstacles. Vert cargo net was tight so bounced over it. Herc was light. I had to do a quick check to make sure I was using a men’s bag. Rope climb was dry and easy. Last was spearman. I took my bleggmitt off on my right hand and tucked in in my tights. I had a fear of the line getting caught and causing me burpees. The extra few seconds were worth it. Threw a perfect throw and took off at a sprint towards the last climb. Got there running where I could and power hiking when needed. Hit the top and then down hill technical single track. My favorite. I started down fast with 3 others behind me barely in control trusting every foothold more than I should and it paid off. I opened a gap not knowing if it mattered and flew over the A-frame and sprinted to the finish line. For another 5th place finish. It was an improvement over 6th place last year so I’ll take it.
The Course:
Amazing changes this year. As simple as they were it made it harder in true spartan fashion even though we climbed 100’ less. This east coast team loves the starts right up steep mountain trail.
The conditions were icy snow, hardpack and some slush mud. The trick is to just run through the slush and get over having wet feet.
The new twist this year that everyone seemed to love was the addition of the tubing run for the open heats. Glad I got out on my cool down lap with the group for it. It did involve a hike back up the mountain but worth it for some speed.
The Bad:
Easily the bad was the cluster of a start. Lesson learned. Pay more attention at the start and get in the corral a minute or two earlier than normal.
Still need to work on climbing and carries. I have some ideas for some carry interval workouts.
The Good:
That even starting as one of the last few I was still able to fight my way back into a decent position. There were points where my lungs were burning and I was able to keep going and pushing. My fitness was where I wanted it to be going into this and I wish I could have shown it.
Moral of the Story:
This was a perfect setup for the NJ ultra. I ran a clean fast race for not being a short course guy. I can’t wait to get back into my element in the distance of the Ultra in 7 weeks. I have some time to hone in my skills and really hit that course hard. New nutrition plan, new gear and a more refined race plan should get me there.
Gear/Nutrition:
Altra Lone Peak 4
Bleggmitt Extreme
Garmin Forerunner 935
Underarmour cold weather tights and ¼ zip
Injinji wool toe socks
Weather:
22F at start, slightly windy and clear.
Map:
Results:
Obstacle List
Rolling Snow
Hurdles
Overwalls
Zwalls
Monkey Bars
Inverted Wall
Multi Rig
Atlas Carry
Crawl
Bucket
Wall
Sandbag
Vert cargo
Herc
Rope
Spear
Slipwall
Snow wall
A frame
Fire
Comments
Post a Comment